Biometric authentication systems offer a quick and convenient means of personal authentication without the need to remember and enter passwords. Various forms of biometric authentication have been developed and each form presents its own unique set of challenges. Generally speaking, biometric authentication systems are subject to spoofing or falsing.
For example, fingerprint biometric authentication systems can sometimes be subject to falsing by an unauthorized person's finger or may even be “fooled” by a synthetic false finger. This susceptibility to falsing is an issue with many types of biometric authentication or identification systems. Because of this susceptibility, the concept of “biometric fusion” or “multimodal biometric” systems is gaining in popularity. In such multimodal systems, it becomes more difficult to spoof or fake the biometric inputs because there is either more than one biometric required, or multiple algorithms are applied to the same biometric, and therefore the probability of spoofing to gain unauthorized access is significantly reduced.